


The Duck and the Jewel

by Griddlebone



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, Princess Tutu
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Drama, Gen, Short Chapters, Slow Build, Slow To Update
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-03-16
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2017-10-17 06:19:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 49
Words: 14,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/173827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griddlebone/pseuds/Griddlebone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the story of the Shikon no Tama goes hopelessly awry, there's only one man that can fix it. But meddling with a force that powerful is bound to have consequences...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> Chapters of this tale were originally written for themed challenges at the LiveJournal community fanfic_bakeoff. As submissions were limited to 300 words or less, each chapter was necessarily brief. Fanfic_bakeoff is no longer operating, but chapters will remain brief in the spirit of the original community as the story continues.

The Higurashi Shrine was peaceful at this time of year. There were only a few visitors, among them a foreigner with obvious European heritage, and the Shrine grounds were quiet. The foreigner carried about him such a sense of thoughtful confidence that even the garrulous old family patriarch that guarded the shrine did not approach him, but watched from afar.

This stranger, and he smiled to think of himself as a stranger in a land where his name and heritage were unknown, carried an informative pamphlet and an old-fashioned pen in one hand; he wore a large canvas bag slung over one shoulder, which had two spare pens clipped to the edge and contained, among far more valuable possessions, several pads of paper. To the curious eyes that watched him, he would appear to be only a student, or perhaps a writer seeking inspiration.

He wandered slowly about the grounds without any destination in mind, pausing here and there to look idly at whatever detail caught his eye. For a long time he lingered before the great Goshinboku tree, peering up into the leaves as if the tree might have some answer for his unasked questions.

He had come to the shrine on a whim - because of a feeling, a sense of distortion, a prickling in the blood that told him that this was where he needed to be. And yet try as he might, he could not find the source of that feeling.

As if in response to his increasingly frustrated thoughts, his bag squirmed of its own accord and a small yellow duck poked her head out to peer up at him. Her tone inquisitive, she seemed almost to ask, "Quack?"

"There's a story here, Duck," her companion murmured thoughtfully. "We just have to find it."


	2. The Old Well House

The Higurashi Shrine was spacious and well-kept, its buildings in good condition and the god-tree lovingly cared for. It was also drowning beneath a flood of words. Fakir cast his gaze around the shrine and felt them whisper across his skin: the promise of an unfinished story. It started off soft and sweet but then went inexplicably awry. And try as he might, he could not find the source nor the reason why. There were too many words.

This tale, he realized suddenly, was one that transcended the centuries. But where did it begin, and what did it have to do with _him_?

"Quack," Duck said emphatically, and wriggled out of her hiding spot in his bag.

"Duck!" he hissed quietly. Helpless to stop her, he added, "Don't get into trouble!"

"Quack!" She flapped her wings wildly in an attempt to get his attention.

Fakir knew better than to ignore Duck's instincts. The source of her excitement was a small outbuilding, located a short distance from the rest of the Shrine's structures. He came closer to investigate, thinking that perhaps he might find what he was searching for within its walls.

The door was ajar. Hoping he was not trespassing, Fakir opened the door and stepped inside. It was darker and gloomier than he had expected, and he suspected he might even find cobwebs in the corners. He had entered onto an upper level; in front of him a short flight of stairs led down to the ground level, which was several feet lower than the rest of the shrine, where a small old-fashioned well had been carefully maintained. Standing on this precipice, feeling the words grow twisted and distorted where they should have flowed smoothly, Fakir inhaled sharply.

"Here," he breathed. "It began _here_."


	3. The Legend

"Are you interested in the Bone-Eater's Well?" The old man's voice echoed harshly in the empty well house.

Fakir gave a start at the sudden interruption. He had assumed that he and Duck had entered the small building unnoticed, but it would seem he had been wrong. Beside him, Duck let out a loud QUAAACK! and dashed to the nearest hiding place, which happened to be behind the old well. A moment later, she peeked cautiously around its edge, keeping an eye on the humans.

"The Bone-Eater's Well?" Fakir asked mildly.

The Shrine keeper took a step forward and nodded decisively. "The legend of this well goes back for centuries," he explained. Fakir could hear a great deal of well-justified pride in the man's voice. "Its history is closely entwined with that of our Shrine and the Shikon no Tama."

This sounded vaguely familiar to Fakir; he must have read something about it in the informational pamphlet he had picked up when he first arrived at the Shrine. "The Shikon no Tama," he repeated absentmindedly.

"It was an object of great power, capable of granting any wish its holder might think of," the old man elaborated. His familiarity with the subject was obvious. No doubt he had explained the legend countless times during his tenure as Shrine keeper. "Even carrying a replica of the jewel is known to bring good fortune."

Fakir listened to the tale without hearing it. His blood sang at the mention of this powerful object. The whispering at the edge of his consciousness grew more and more intense, a rising babble of words that threatened to overwhelm him. Scarcely able to hear himself over the din, he inquired, "So this jewel no longer exists?"

"It was destroyed," the old man said cryptically, "many, many years ago."


	4. The Odd Couple

"Do you mind if we have a look around?" Fakir asked.

The Shrine keeper quirked a brow. "We?"

"Duck... and I," Fakir elaborated.

Overcoming her shyness, Duck emerged from her hiding place. She hopped up onto the well's edge with an almost graceful flutter of wings and gave a little strut.

"That's an interesting friend you've got there," the Shrine keeper commented, his voice subtly betraying amusement. "Not many people bring birds along with them."

"She's very dear to me," Fakir murmured. Not, he thought wryly, that the old man would believe him if he tried to explain why.

"Quack!" Duck added in her most endearing tone.

"She does have a certain charm," the old man decided. "Feel free to look around. And don't be afraid to ask if you have any questions."

Duck quacked happily and danced along the rim of the well in excitement; Fakir gave his profuse thanks to the Shrine keeper. In the meantime Duck set about surveying her surroundings, beginning with the Well she was perched upon.

Fakir felt a shift: something had suddenly changed in the story attached to the Shrine, the story he was so avidly investigating. He turned just in time to see Duck lean forward and plummet into the well.

She could at least have warned him, he thought impatiently. But the expected thump as she hit the bottom never came; nor did she emerge from the well in flight. Instead, the room was abruptly filled with shimmering blue light. As quickly as it had come, it vanished.

"Duck!" Caution forgotten in the face of abject alarm, Fakir raced to the well and peered into its depths. Even in the gloom it was obvious: there was no sign of Duck. The Bone-Eater's Well was empty.


	5. The Lost Duckling

Duck did not remember fainting, but obviously she had. Feeling woozy, she struggled to regain her bearings. She was lying on her back with her feet sticking gracelessly up in the air, and when she finally opened her eyes, she glimpsed a patch of blue sky in front of her, as if through a long tunnel.

 _That's right,_ she thought idly, _I fell down a well._

A moment later, she remembered that the well was part of a Shrine and also inside a building; there was no reason she should see sky above her. She should be seeing the gloom of the well house, with Fakir looking down at her, annoyed that she had fallen.

_I'm a bird. I should have remembered to fly._

Well, maybe she hadn't thought of it when she fell, but she did think of it now. And she couldn't just sit at the bottom of a well all day. It couldn't hurt to take a look around, right?

Half flying, half clinging to the walls, she clambered out of the well and felt her heart sink. Any hope that she might have been seeing things vanished as soon as she poked her head over the edge of the well. The Shrine was gone, replaced by wild grass and forest.

 _What happened?_ she despaired. She might pretend she had not the slightest clue, but in her bones she knew: magic. And not the kind that comes from a storybook prince's shattered heart, either. This was... less innocent, almost sinister.

Suddenly fearful, she gazed over her shoulder into the dark depths of the well.

_Oh, Fakir... what do I do? If I jump in the well again, will it take me back? … or will I just end up somewhere else?_


	6. The Well's Power

A flash of blue light, a frantic cry, an empty well; Fakir's heart stopped beating. One moment Duck had been perched on the edge of the old well, and the next she was simply _gone_. And for a moment, the world grinding to a slow halt around him, it seemed as if she had taken his very life with her when she went.

And in the next painful instant, reality snapped firmly back into place. It was a disconcerting sensation, and all too familiar. "What," he murmured, suddenly out of breath, "What just happened?"

Somewhere behind him, sandals scraped against the wooden floor, echoing suddenly in the silence. Fakir whirled. In his panic, he had forgotten the Shrine keeper even existed. But he remembered now, and the promise of answers set his heart to pounding erratically.

He raced up the short flight of stairs so they were more or less eye to eye and, forgetting to be polite, demanded, "What just happened?"

"The Well took her," was the cryptic reply, the Shrine keeper's expression darkening as he spoke. When he realized that his answer had done nothing to mollify the angry young man before him, he added, "If your friend jumps back into the well from the other end, it is quite possible that she will return."

Fakir sputtered helplessly for a moment. Whatever he had been expecting to hear, this was not it. This sounded like something out of a storybook; indeed, he realized now that, with Duck's disappearance, the whispering words that enmeshed the Shrine had fallen into expectant silence. Fakir found himself at a loss. Finally: "How can you know something like that?"

"Because my granddaughter uses this well to travel to the feudal era," the old man said, as if it explained everything.


	7. Whispering Words

By afternoon the pain had become little more than a distant ache in Fakir's chest. With Duck on the other side of the Bone-Eater's Well, he found himself utterly alone for the first time since she had first made herself a permanent fixture in his life. Over the years she had become an integral part of his existence; now that she was gone, he found that he was utterly unprepared to face life without her.

If the old man had spoken truly, then there was a chance that she might return. But that possibility seemed more remote with each minute that slipped past.

Scarcely aware of his actions, Fakir returned to the well. Surrounded by gloom, he peered into the depths, as if there he might find the answer he sought. But there were no answers, only darkness.

Darkness, thick as ink.

Words whispered suggestively against his mind. Fakir shuddered and fled back into the light, phantom laughter ringing in his ears.

In spite of his aversion to what the Shrine's story was now hinting at, Fakir felt an idea stir. He was loath to use it, least of all for personal gain, but he held some of the infamous Drosselmeyer's power. If he could write his way into the story, perhaps he could...

Furious with himself, he cut that thought off before it could finish. That power had been the cause of Drosselmeyer's death; Fakir had nearly been killed because of it. It had created such sorrow... and yet it was this selfsame power that had first brought Fakir and Duck together.

He could use it now, he was suddenly certain, to bring her back to him. But could he live with the potential, as yet unforeseen consequences of his meddling if he did?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks go to Forthright for the nomination of this story into the Best Crossover category at the InuYasha Fan Guild!


	8. Disappointment

Disappointment swept over Fakir as he landed at the bottom of the Bone-Eater's Well. The ground was solid beneath his feet. The magic Well had swallowed Duck up easily, but showed no inclination to do the same for him.

He sighed and climbed out of the Well, nearly falling back in as he came unexpectedly face to face with a woman.

"My father-in-law told me we had a visitor jumping into the Well," she said, helping him climb out. She was of middle years, with short-cropped hair and a kind face that reminded him suddenly of Raetsel. "What's the trouble, young man?"

Making no pretenses, Fakir told her what had happened to Duck, and of his infuriating inability to follow wherever she had gone.

"My daughter says that the Well only opens for those whose hearts are willing," she commented softly. This woman, then, was the mother of the girl who used the well to travel back in time. Her insight might prove useful.

"Hearts," he murmured. He remembered the story of another heart, broken into shards, and all the trouble it had caused; he recalled Gold Crown Town and everything that had happened there. And, too, he remembered how taking his cue from Duck's determination and spontaneity had led to victory - and a happy ending.

He bid Mrs. Higurashi adieu and staggered out of the well house.

Caution had served him well over the years, but he was done with being cautious. Wherever she was, it was obvious Duck could not return on her own. Perhaps Mrs. Higurashi was right about his heart, perhaps not. But if Duck was in trouble, that left only one thing for him to do.

As day stretched into pink-tinged dusk, Fakir sat beneath the Goshinboku and began to write.


	9. The Way

_Once upon a time, a duck fell into a well..._

The old shrine-keeper said it was a gateway to the past, that he had seen this happen before. Fakir tried to take his example from the old man's nonchalance.

It was simple to imagine the place where she had ended up: it was the same place where he sat now, only several hundred years in the past. He could envision the huge Goshinboku tree, somewhat smaller than it was today, and the Bone-Eater's Well, perhaps without the protective building around it. And once he could see it in his mind's eye, he let his power loose.

Ink scrawled across a page, letters made sloppy by haste. Day slipped away into soft night while he wrote. With each word power rose in his blood, his ancestor's power, harmonizing with the Shrine's subtle voices. He felt suddenly certain that this could save Duck from whatever had befallen her and bring her back to safety, to him.

He stopped his frantic writing, looked up, and waited for several long minutes.

But Duck did not appear.

If there was one thing Fakir had learned over the years, it was that gifts such as his did not always work as intended. He was a fool to have thought Duck would return to him so easily.

A stab of fear pierced his heart. If even Drosselmeyer's power had failed to bring her back to him...

It was unacceptable. Fakir abandoned his writing and forced himself to his feet. First tottering, then running, he made his way to the well house and threw the door open. There was no sign of Duck.

And yet... something had changed.

In the dark before him the Well pulsed, beckoning.

The way was open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to extend my thanks to everyone who voted for this story at the InuYasha Fan Guild! Thanks to your support, this story placed second in the Best Crossover category!


	10. Darkness Falls

Duck had spent a lot of time learning to behave like a 'real' duck. She knew, logically, that she had been a duck before Drosselmeyer's story-magic turned her into a girl (and then, later, back into a duck again), but her memories from that time were vague and dreamlike. So after the touch of water stopped turning Duck-the-bird into Duck-the-girl, she'd had to relearn the art of being a duck.

If she had thought that practice might serve her well now, she had been sorely mistaken. She had messed up and fallen through a well and ended up... wherever _here_ was. Here was definitely not _there_ , where she had been earlier today, where Fakir still was.

An hour's aimless wandering had eventually brought her around to a village, but it was unlike any village she had ever seen: a series of unelaborate huts and fields, little more. There were animals, too, but a small yellow duck felt somehow out of place.

Duck feared that, without Fakir to protect her, she would soon end up on someone's dinner plate.

 _Where to hide? Where to hide?_ she thought frantically, half wondering if she might be better off in the forest... but the fear of foxes and wolves kept her lurking around the fringes of the village. She stood a chance of swaying a human into not eating her, but a wolf or a fox would gobble her up before she could think to protest.

As the sky darkened into sunset, she found a place to hunker down in some tall grass and felt more morose than she had in many years. She had felt certain that Fakir would come after her. He was always saving her. Apparently he could not save her this time.

_Fakir, where are you?_


	11. The Least of Her Worries

Duck, feeling small and utterly insignificant, sat amidst a stand of tall grass and contemplated a future without Fakir.

What would she do if he never came for her? She couldn't picture herself simply living here as a duck, without someone to understand and care for her; domestic ducks became food all too easily, and she had learned the hard way that wild ducks were often terrifying.

 _I'll try the Well again in the morning_ , she decided. She had fallen into the Bone-Eater's Well once and it had brought her here. Who was to say that jumping into it from this side (which seemed a very odd way to think about it) wouldn't send her back to where she had come from?

Fakir would be waiting for her there, and her future would once again be safe and secure. She tried to be sure of it, to push every last doubt out of her silly head, but felt a thread of insecurity deep within.

What if it didn't work?

_Then I'll just keep trying! I'll get back to you somehow, Fakir!_

Duck's head shot up, suddenly startled. She'd been lost in thought, but she was sure she had heard something just now. There was the sound of the wind and insects, and -

There was a rustle in the grass nearby, and then another and another. She looked around frantically, but between the darkness and the grass, she could see very little. Still, the sounds were unmistakable. Someone - or, worse, something - was coming, and every sense screamed that it was danger that approached.

Duck fought against panic. It rose wild and fierce inside her; she couldn't stop it. So she did what she always did when stressed or frightened:

"QUACK!"


	12. Lost and Found

When Duck finally managed to overcome the panic that had her flailing wildly and running in circles, she realized that the person who had stumbled upon her hiding place was only a small child.

"Qua?" she murmured, tilting her head to one side. _What's a little kid like that doing out here all alone?_

But he did not seem inclined to tell her. Instead he scoffed at himself for being startled by a bird, and headed off in a different direction. Following at a safe distance, Duck ventured a closer look. While the boy seemed normal enough at first, she quickly realized that he was no ordinary human. He had pointed ears and feet like paws, and a fox's tail.

Duck froze in her tracks.

A _fox_ boy? While all her avian instincts were screaming at her to run away, Duck's curiosity was piqued. She hadn't seen animal-people like this since... Gold-Crown Town.

In Gold-Crown Town, Drosselmeyer's story had caused certain people in the town to develop animal characteristics; Fakir had mentioned a story back when they had been at the Higurashi Shrine. Could another runaway story be at work here?

 _Is this why that magic well brought me here? Because there's another story?_

Realizing she would be left behind, Duck fell into step behind the boy. He seemed to be looking for something. Duck wished she could ask him, but she was only a bird, and he would have no way to understand her.

So she settled for following, and observing what she could. But the further they went, the more she began to worry that something wasn't right. As the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn, she realized just what was wrong:

The sky was filled with spiderwebs.


	13. Tangled Web

The fox-boy picked his way carefully across empty fields and darkened countryside. Feeling a little lost, as if she were walking through a dream, Duck followed as stealthily as she could. She kept out of sight whenever possible, scurrying between especially thick tufts of grass and rocks big enough to hide behind. And all the while she kept her eyes wide open, trying to get a better idea of who she was following and what was going on.

For his part, the boy never looked back. Not that she could blame him. There were far more threatening things about in the night than a little lost duck.

Feeling an unpleasant prickle along her back, Duck glanced up at the sky. It was filled with webs, as if a giant spider had passed overhead and left behind a silken net. Except that the strands were constantly moving and shifting, occasionally even reaching ponderously down to form great, grotesque pillars as they touched the ground.

Duck shuddered.

She had seen a great many strange things during the course of her short life, but this latest turn of events easily ranked among the strangest. A sky filled with spider's webs was every bit as weird and unlikely as people turning into Ravens or Princes coming out of storybooks.

And yet there it was.

Given the choice, Duck would have preferred Princes or Ravens.

But - she realized that if she did not hurry to catch up, the fox-boy would leave her behind - she didn't have a say in the matter. She cast one last look toward the sky and those menacing webs, and then hurried after her unwitting companion. She would just have to make the most of the situation... and hope it wouldn't involve running into any giant spiders.


	14. The Communication Problem

Not for the first time, Duck wished she had the human voice to ask questions. What's your name? Where are you going? Are you looking for something? Did you see the sky today? That's awfully weird, isn't it? What's up with that?

But she did not have a human voice; she was just a duck. And she had learned through harsh experience that most humans would not heed her, no matter how hard she tried to make herself understood. There were a few, like Fakir, that could glean meaning from the frantic quacking and flapping of wings, but most simply ignored her.

This boy, she thought, might be different than most humans. Perhaps she could communicate with this particular boy.

Despite his alarming mix of human and vulpine features, he didn't _look_ especially dangerous. And she recalled that whenever she had encountered humanoid animals in the past, they had generally been perfectly capable of communicating with the humans around them.

And since she was a humanoid animal, or at least an animal that had been a human girl at one point, that same rule ought to apply to her, right? But when Duck opened her mouth to speak, all that came out was a suitably duckish "Quack!"

The boy whirled in alarm; Duck clamped her wings firmly over her mouth, thoroughly horrified. The boy's expression, somewhere midway between fear and determination, softened as his gaze fell upon Duck.

"Did you follow me from the village? You should go back. It's safe there." He paused. "Saf _er_ , anyway."

Duck pouted at him. She didn't want to go back to the village. She wanted to go back to the Higurashi Shrine, where Fakir was waiting for her.

Too bad she couldn't just say so.


	15. A New Day

Dawn glimmered on the horizon. Half asleep on her feet, Duck realized that she had lost track of time. She had followed the fox boy all night, and now she wasn't sure she could find her way back to the well even if she wasn't exhausted from all the walking. So much for trying to get back to Fakir in the morning.

 _Well, birds were meant to fly, not walk,_ she thought morosely, _but I can't fly if the sky is filled with spider-webs._

Curiosity overcame her at the thought and she stopped for a moment to peek upward - just to make sure. The sky was rosy pink with the rising sun and although the enormous strands had been reduced to filmy transparentness with the growing light, they were still there.

Duck shivered. _Why? Why are there webs in the sky?_

She had no answer.

"You're still here, huh?"

"QUACK!" Instinctive fear swept over her at the sudden sound, but it was only the fox boy. Calming herself, she stared up at him with wide eyes.

"You're a determined little thing," he observed, earning an enthusiastic nod. Fakir had always despaired of her determination. Maybe this boy would, too!

"I don't know why you followed me all this way, but I'm kind of glad you did. It's scary being alone out here," he confessed. "But I've got to find Inuyasha and Kagome!"

 _He's like me,_ Duck realized. _Lost and scared... but determined to do his best._

She rather thought they would be on their way again, but he paused to examine her more critically first. "You seem like a regular duck," he mused. "But I feel like I can talk to you, and you'll understand. Are you... a youkai?"


	16. The Other Side

Fakir was not entirely certain of what he had expected to find if the Bone-Eater's Well ever let him through. But with the way open before him, he was not about to let fear stop him. He jumped - and fell, and found that the Well had no bottom.

As he tumbled through inexplicably empty space, Fakir's mind raced. He was aware of a thousand ways in which he was grossly unprepared for this adventure, but first and foremost in his thoughts was Duck. Where was she? Was she still okay? Had he found a way through only to be too late to save her from whatever might have befallen her?

Suddenly, he hit the bottom. The impact sent him sprawling, all thought momentarily flying out of his head. He paused to catch his breath, half suspecting that the abnormally long fall had been all in his head, then stood up and brushed himself off.

And yet he could see stars twinkling overhead where there should have been only darkness. He blinked once, twice, and the stars remained.

It had worked. He had gone through to the other side. It really was amazing what the imagination could do. It could turn a duck into a girl and back again, and it could send him hundreds of years into the past through a magic well. Unfortunately, it could not lift him up and out of the well; he would have to climb.

He made his way inch by painstaking inch up the side of the Well until he spilled gracelessly over the top edge and onto solid ground. He knew what he would find even before stopped to take a closer look at his surroundings.

In the nighttime forest that now surrounded the Well, there was no sign of Duck.


	17. The Search

The main path from the Bone-Eater's well, if the small track were indeed large enough to merit the title of 'path', meandered for a short way before disappearing into a stretch of forest. Having no leads as to Duck's whereabouts and no better options, Fakir followed this path.

He felt a bit foolish, stumbling in the dark and gawking at the almost surreal landscape around him, but while he was familiar to some extent with magic, time travel was a totally new experience.

With so many unfamiliar sights to see, he had to remind himself to keep his eyes peeled for any sign of a small yellow duck. He dared not call for her, not knowing what might be lurking in the forest at night, and worried that he might simply walk past her hiding place without seeing her.

After he had been walking for a while, the forest opened up into a wide open area. He stopped behind the last of the trees and in the gloom could just make out the silhouetted shapes of a cluster of buildings. He had come upon a village, and still found no sign of Duck.

He supposed, that he should consider himself lucky that he had not yet run into any trouble yet. It would be all too easy for a village guard to stumble upon him and mistake his midnight appearance for some nefarious scheme.

So he stayed where he was, half-hidden, for a while and simply watched the village. It was possible that Duck had reached it before him and found shelter somewhere within. In fact, it was more than possible. It was likely.

Duck was nothing if not resourceful. She would be okay. After he had even used his magic to reach her, she had to be.


	18. The Capture

Fakir noticed the movement too late. A man loomed out of the darkness, shouting angrily at him not to try any funny business. The alarm was raised, he was caught.

He supposed it was only a matter of time before this happened. After all, he had been wandering around the outskirts of the village in his search for Duck, attempting stealth without much success, for nearly an hour now. It was a miracle no one had heard him or thought to investigate sooner.

But in short order he found himself discovered, captured and bound and brought into the village to stand before a woman, the village elder. She was wizened and hunched with age, but venerable enough that she commanded a deep respect without saying a single word.

He expected questions, after his rather abrupt entrance, but none were forthcoming. Instead, she seemed content simply to look over him. She did not seem all that surprised by his sudden appearance or his clothing, which must have seemed strange in comparison to that of her own people, who wore what he gathered was the traditional garb of this time and place.

After a long silence, she spoke. "What is your name? And how is it that you have come to this place? I know of only two others who have passed through the Well..."

She knew where he had come from; he did not know what to say. He could tell her of his power, the magic inside him that translated written word into physical reality... but he kept silent. Memories of the Bookmen still haunted him; better to hide what he was than risk that kind of danger again.

And so he said only, "My name is Fakir, and I came through the Well in search of a lost friend."


	19. The Miko

Her name was Kaede. And she was not, as Fakir had first suspected, the village elder. Her distinctive clothing gave her away: she was the village miko. And since she was the Higurashi girl's liaison with the village, she had automatically become his as well.

She swiftly saw Fakir settled in her hut and began to heat water for tea, but she was not without questions. "You came through the Well, that much is obvious. But I am curious as to how you managed it. Until now, only InuYasha and Kagome have been able to do so."

His grasp of Japanese was not especially strong; Fakir was surprised to find that he needed no translator to understand this woman. "My friend... she has an affinity for magic, and a knack for finding trouble. She is the one that fell into, _through_ , the Well. I was simply able to follow her."

"I see," Kaede mused. "This friend of yours, what is her name?"

Feeling somewhat sheepish, he said only, "Duck."

The miko's expression turned curious, but she did not comment on the strange name. "You do not know where she has gone?"

"No," he said. "I couldn't find her. I was looking for her when I stumbled onto your village."

Kaede accepted this explanation. While she excused herself to tend to the tea, Fakir brooded. This interview was getting him nowhere.

When the tea had been served, Kaede asked, "Would it help if I were to give the villagers a description of your friend, in case anyone has seen her?"

Fakir forced himself to take a sip of his tea before speaking. "I don't think they would recognize her even if they saw her."

The old woman looked perplexed. "And why is that?"

"She's... a duck."


	20. Worrisome News

A search of the village turned up nothing. No one had seen Duck, and there was no sign that she had ever been there at all.

Fakir had been certain that the Bone-Eater's well had brought him to the correct time and place to find his missing friend, but now he began to doubt. He had no idea how the Well worked in the first place, which only fed his fears. If Duck was not in this village, he worried, then she could be anywhere. Or, worse, at any point in time.

He might never see her again.

Not finding Duck would be unacceptable... but the prospect of finding her again when she could be anywhere or anywhen was daunting in its near impossibility. He needed a plan.

He was still hanging about the outskirts of the village, the unwanted but tolerated outsider, mulling over the possibilities when the miko Kaede came to find him again.

"I am sorry your friend is not here," she said, and he believed her.

"I don't have any idea where to even start looking next," he admitted. Ordinarily he would not have made such a confession to someone he had only recently met, or to someone that was not Duck, but there was something inherently trustworthy and likable about the old miko. And she might have a better idea than he did about where to go from here.

"There have been strange things happening near this village lately," Kaede told him, her voice somber. "I fear if we do not find your friend soon, she could find herself in the middle of a very sticky situation."

"What do you mean?" Fakir asked, torn between fear and curiosity.

Kaede smiled gently. "It is a long story, and it begins over fifty years ago..."


	21. Kaede's Tale

"Fifty years ago," Kaede began, "my sister Kikyou was the miko of this village..."

The tale was a twisted one, with plot threads tangled up in knots. It began fifty years before the time in which Fakir now found himself, drew characters from five hundred years in the future, and should by rights conclude at some point in the near future. Relatively speaking.

Kaede told him of Naraku, once called Onigumo, the thief who had loved her sister and become a half-demon as a result. How Naraku lusted for the magic Shikon Jewel that Kikyou had protected. How Kagome Higurashi had brought the jewel, long thought destroyed, back in time with her and accidentally shattered it. How Kagome and her allies sought the broken pieces of the jewel in order to defeat Naraku.

Every detail was bluntly told, her tone a clear warning, but the more Fakir listened the more he realized that the only delicate way to explain this situation to him would be to deceive him. And he would rather not be ignorant of the dangers. Known threats could be planned for and avoided.

Although with Duck involved, he thought with a sort of fond annoyance, perhaps his best plan of action would be to head straight toward whichever threat seemed most imminent. He would be surprised not to find her right in the thick of it.

When she had finished her tale, the priestess regarded him soberly. "I am afraid I cannot tell you where to turn next in your search," she concluded. "If she is not here, your friend may already have been caught in one of Naraku's webs."

Fakir wondered if she meant that literally, and decided not to ask.

A thought occurred to him then, and instead he asked, "Do you know where the Higurashi girl has gone?"


	22. In a Dream

Duck had been following her fox-boy through the sea of tall green grass for so long that she was half asleep on her feet. She was so tired and so worried by the spider-webs in the sky that she was starting to wonder if she had somehow dreamed it all.

Certainly, her conversation with Shippou, if it could be called a 'conversation', seemed unreal. "Are you a youkai?" he'd asked. She had no idea what a youkai was. They had stared at one another for a long time after that, until he apparently decided that she was not, in fact, a youkai (whatever that was). "My name's Shippou," he had explained, then. And that was that. She had been trudging along after him ever since.

She wished they could stop for a nap, but she knew fear would keep her awake, as would the certainty that she needed to tell Shippou about the webs in the sky. They were important. She knew it, without knowing why.

But no matter how much she quacked and flapped her wings, he could not understand her. So they just kept walking. And walking and walking.

She knew they had been walking for a very long time now, but it seemed that their surroundings never changed. The webs in the sky and the green grass all began to blend together.

Shippou seemed to have some idea of where he was and what he might be looking for, but he did not see fit to share any of that with her.

It was starting to feel like this _must_ be a nightmare, and if she could only wake up she would find Fakir waiting to comfort her like he always did.

But Fakir was nowhere to be found, and Duck could not wake up.


	23. InuYasha

A rustle was the only warning that trouble was coming. One moment Shippou was forging a path through empty grass, and the next moment there was a man standing in their way.

"InuYasha!" Shippou cried.

Surprised, Duck quacked loudly and flailed, tumbling gracelessly into the grass.

"I thought I smelled something funny," a gruff voice grumbled.

Duck cautiously crept back to the edge of the grass and peered out. The man had long silver-white hair and bright red clothes that stood out sharply against their green surroundings.

After spending her night following Shippou, Duck was not particularly surprised to see that the newcomer also had animal characteristics. But instead of fox-paws and a bushy tail, the man had puppy-dog ears that would have been cute if not for the hard look in his golden eyes and the claws on his fingertips.

"Have you seen Kagome?" he demanded.

"I've been looking for her," Shippou admitted.

"Lot of good you are."

"I'm trying!" Shippou protested. "But it's like she's not _anywhere_. If she was around here somewhere, you'd have found her by now."

The man looked displeased. Duck struggled to recall his name. InuYasha. That sounded right.

Duck watched as he continued to bicker with Shippou about this Kagome, the girl they seemed to have lost. The fox-boy and the dog-man could not seem to agree on anything, except that Kagome must be found, and soon.

InuYasha's rough demeanor was intimidating, but as much as Duck knew she ought to be frightened of him, he reminded her of Fakir. And, like Fakir...

 _He's scared_ , she realized suddenly. _Just as scared as Shippou is._

But any sympathy she may have felt for InuYasha soon evaporated.

"What's this?" he asked, spying Duck at last. "Lunch?"

"QUACK!"


	24. On the Scent

In the end, after all arguments about whether or not Duck was lunch were settled (she was not), she continued on with InuYasha and Shippou. This was not because of any real desire on her part; rather, it was because Shippou grabbed her and, with her tucked safely under one arm, leaped up onto InuYasha's shoulder. They were off and bounding across the countryside almost before Duck knew what had happened.

With Shippou clinging to InuYasha and keeping a firm grip on her, Duck had the luxury of looking around. InuYasha's swiftness took some getting used to, after the slow plod of the night, but it left Duck enthralled. Aside from the spiderwebs, of which her companions seemed totally unaware, the countryside they were traveling through was pristine.

It was like nothing Duck had seen before. The tall green grass and the distant trees only served to strengthen her conviction that the webs were both important and very bad. If she didn't find a way to get rid of them, she wondered if they might not infect the entire area with their evil.

 _Is that why I came here?_ she wondered. _Is that why I met Shippou and InuYasha?_ And: _how can I make them understand that they need to help me with something they can't even see? I can't talk to them, I'm just a bird..._

But for all her wondering and worrying, she could not think of a solution. No amount of quacking or flapping of wings could explain what she was seeing, much less her strong feelings of foreboding.

Her attention diverted from that problem as InuYasha suddenly came to a halt. He sniffed the air slowly.

"Do you smell something, InuYasha?" Shippou asked.

"Yeah," InuYasha said. "But it's not Kagome."


	25. Into a Trap

Duck quacked softly when she caught sight of the hut looming at the edge of the forest, recognizing it immediately as their likely destination. Duck felt uneasy just looking at it, but it wasn't the hut itself that bothered her.

It was the spiderwebs that fairly cocooned it.

InuYasha changed course to head more directly for the hut, confirming her fears. And still her companions gave no sign of being aware of the webs at all. InuYasha charged recklessly onward, heedless of any danger, and Duck was overcome by the sudden fear that if the webs ensnared her, she would die. Frantic, she wriggled her way free of Shippou's grip.

He cried out and tried to catch her, but he was a second too late. Shedding yellow feathers and quacking wildly, she tumbled to the ground. Despite the high grass, she landed hard and it wasn't until she finally rolled to a stop that she realized just how quickly they had been traveling.

She shook herself up and got to wobbly feet in time to see Shippou jump off of InuYasha's back and head toward her. For some reason, it pleased her greatly to see him escape the webs.

"Quack!" she said as Shippou crept over to where she was standing.

"What's the big deal?" he asked. "I wasn't going to let you fall."

She wished she could tell him, _that's not what I was afraid of._

Suddenly, she remembered InuYasha. He had slowed to a walk, but he ignored her quacked warning and she did not dare go any closer to the webs.

From somewhere within the darkness of the hut, a female voice cried, "No, InuYasha, don't come in here!"

But it was too late: he had crossed the threshold.


	26. Wicked Webs

Inside the hut was a woman covered in spider-silk. InuYasha called her Kikyou, and Shippou seemed somehow appalled to have come across her. Duck felt only confusion and curiosity. What intrigued her the most was that Kikyou not only was unharmed by the webs, she seemed to be aware of their existence.

"Don't touch the webs," she urged.

"Webs?" InuYasha asked, blundering right into one as he knelt at Kikyou's side.

 _Are they something only girls can see?_ Duck wondered, feeling more perplexed by the moment.

Shippou tried to skirt around her and follow InuYasha; alarmed, Duck hurried between him and the hut again, spreading her wings and quacking a loud warning. Shippou frowned. "You don't want me to go in there?"

"Quack!"

"You'll only be caught," Kikyou said. "Like I am, and InuYasha is. This is a trap laid by Naraku."

"A trap..." Shippou's eyes widened.

"You can't see them, but there are spider-webs everywhere. Naraku created them to ensnare me. All it takes is the slightest touch to be trapped. And once they catch hold of something," she said, wincing slightly, "they taint it. My spiritual power is tainted by darkness now. I cannot free myself any more than I can free you. I have no hope of destroying Naraku. I can no longer even move from this place."

Duck turned to peer past InuYasha into the depths of the hut, feeling sorry for Kikyou. It must be awful to know she was caught in a trap, but be unable to free herself from it.

InuYasha's lips curled back in a snarl and his hand went to the hilt of his sword. "I'll get you out of here."

"You cannot. The only one who can break this spell is Kagome."


	27. Seeking Kagome

InuYasha tried hard to break free of the webs that bound him and Kikyou, but the strands remained despite his best efforts. As frightening as his rage was, it was no match for the spiderwebs' spell. Duck could plainly see the shimmering strands, untouched by InuYasha's claws or sword.

Fear gripped her as she watched; Kikyou's warning words - _I am tainted_ \- brought back memories of raven's blood.

Duck and Shippou watched for a long time in silence, from a thankfully safe distance, until InuYasha was forced to admit defeat. Looking like nothing so much as a chained dog, he turned to Shippou. "Find Kagome," he bit out impatiently, paying no heed whatsoever to Duck. "And bring her back here."

"She's not going to like me dragging her here to save Kikyou," Shippou pouted, but all it took was one glare from InuYasha to get him moving.

Duck dared a single glance back at InuYasha and Kikyou as she trailed after Shippou. InuYasha paced the confines of the hut impatiently, still trying to detach himself from the clinging webs. From what Duck could see, Kikyou bore her fate with more dignity, but then she had to turn and hurry after Shippou or risk losing him in the grass.

"I don't think we're ever going to find Kagome," the fox-boy confided after they had been walking for a while.

"Quack," Duck told him, wishing he could hear what she really meant to say: _don't give up_. She was sure that if they just kept looking, they would find some clue that could lead them to Kagome. Somehow.

Shippou came to such a sudden stop that Duck nearly ran into him. "I've got an idea," he said. "If we can't find Kagome down here, maybe we should try looking from a different angle."


	28. A Tentative Alliance

Fakir had not made it far from the village when someone called out to him. The voice belonged to a woman, and at first he thought it must be the Higurashi girl returning to the village, but the road before him was as empty as it had been a moment ago. Confused, Fakir had only begun to turn his eyes upward when the voice added, "Up here!"

The young woman who had called out to him wore strange, form-fitting armor and her long dark hair was pulled back into a high tail. A surprisingly large boomerang was slung over her shoulder by means of a leather strap, and she sat astride an enormous cat that somehow managed to float in midair. "You're new around here, aren't you?" she asked just as Fakir noticed that there was an unconscious man draped across the cat's flank behind her.

"Yes, I am," he responded, uncertain whether she was friend or foe. She seemed pleasant enough, but there was an air of danger about her. That big weapon did not make her look any less intimidating.

Her gaze hardened when he admitted to being a newcomer. "Do you mean the people of this village any harm?"

"No! I'm looking for a lost friend, actually," he admitted.

"So am I," the woman said. "Maybe we can help each other. Two pairs of eyes are better than one, but Miroku here," she gestured to the unconscious man, "isn't being much help right now."

It was somewhat of a relief to learn that the man was a friend, not a prisoner. The cat dropped lower, hovering so that the tips of its fire-wreathed feet just barely touched the ground.

"Come on." The woman leaned down to offer a hand. "It'll be faster to look from the air."


	29. Introductions

With practiced ease, the woman helped Fakir settle himself between her and the unconscious man on the great cat's back. "I'm Sango," she said by way of introduction, as if none of this was at all out of the ordinary.

"Fakir," he answered, somewhat nervously. He was half afraid that he might fall and make a fool of himself, and half afraid that he would knock the unconscious man, Miroku, from his place and inadvertently cause an injury - or worse. None of this occurred to Sango, and if it did, she seemed unbothered by it.

"You know how to ride a horse?"

"Yes."

"Good."

She must have given the cat some sort of signal that Fakir missed, because a moment later they soared upward until they were drifting above the treetops. It was dizzying, but Sango was right. They would be able to cover ground a lot faster from this vantage. Unfortunately, it would also be very difficult to spot a little yellow duck from this height.

Not entirely sure how to broach the subject of Duck, he asked, "Who are you looking for?"

"A man with long white hair, wearing red," Sango said, "And a woman in a white blouse and a green skirt."

"Kagome Higurashi?" he guessed. "And Inuyasha?"

Sango seemed startled. "Yes. You've spoken with Kaede?"

"Yes."

She was silent for a while, evaluating him. Fakir kept his gaze focused downward, trying to scan as much of the forest as he could for telltale yellow feathers.

Finally: "Who are _you_ looking for?"

"Well..." Fakir sighed. He might as well just tell her the truth. "My friend is a duck. A small yellow duck."

Much to his surprise, Sango did not seem to find this particularly unusual. "Yellow? If I see this friend of yours, you'll know."


	30. Strange Companions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At long last, here's chapter 30... the story is finally starting to come together!
> 
> Thank you to all my readers for being patient with me and with this tale.

Fakir was just beginning to get comfortable with the new situation in which he had found himself when Miroku woke up. The three of them – Fakir, Sango, and the unconscious Miroku – had been flying for what seemed like hours when a hand suddenly pressed against Fakir's rear. He stiffened in shock, mortified.

Sango must have felt him tense up. Calmly, and without looking back, she said, "Houshi-sama, you're rubbing the wrong bottom."

Miroku, having apparently not bothered to look before grabbing, immediately removed his hand. "My apologies," he said, repositioning himself so he was sitting, rather than lying, behind Fakir. "I thought you were Sango."

"If he gets too annoying," Sango growled, twisting in her seat to glare at Miroku, "just push him off."

Fakir wasn't entirely sure if her face was red from rage, or because she was blushing. It had not occurred to him before that Sango and Miroku might be a couple, and now he felt a little guilty at having disrupted their dynamic. In his worry for Duck, he'd been oblivious.

"Now, now," Miroku chided. "I am perfectly capable of behaving myself. I simply thought I was alone with Sango."

When Sango ignored his attempts at explaining, he turned his attention to Fakir. "And who might you be?" he asked pleasantly.

"I'm Fakir," he managed. He felt a little awkward talking to the monk, after their unexpected introduction, but he did his best to explain who he was and how he had come to join Sango in her search... without making himself sound like a fool in the process.

"Looking for a friend?" the monk mused. His tone suggested that Fakir might be in for more than he'd expected.

"Kirara, do you see that?" Sango asked suddenly, handily distracting from Fakir's embarrassment. "I think it's Shippou!"


	31. Reunited

Kirara put on a burst of speed, heading toward what Fakir could see was a round, pinkish object. At first he thought his eyes must have deceived him, but as they drew closer he realized that the ball was larger than he had thought, and it really was floating in midair.

When they were close enough, Sango shouted, "Shippou!"

The pink ball flailed in surprise for a moment, then spun awkwardly to face them. Fakir could just make out that there was a face on this side of the object. It was obviously a creature of some sort, but it was like nothing Fakir had ever seen before. 

He had no time to wonder about that, however, because upon catching sight of them the object hurried toward them. As it turned out, this Shippou character was quite speedy when he wanted to be, and it did not take him long at all to reach them. The large pink ball loomed overhead for a moment before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Fakir watched, feeling somewhat confused by the entire affair, as a small child – who inexplicably had the tail and legs of a fox – dropped out of the smoke and landed on Kirara's shoulders, just in front of Sango. Confusion turned into disbelief and then cautious joy when Fakir noticed a familiar yellow duck tucked under the boy's arm.

"Duck," Fakir breathed, hardly daring to hope.

"Quack!" she responded. A moment later, she had clambered over Sango's shoulder to fling herself into Fakir's waiting arms. As he held her close to his heart, it suddenly didn't matter to Fakir why or how they had been able to come to this strange place, or what might be in store for them next. All that mattered was that they were together again.


	32. Too Far to Turn Back

While Fakir was preoccupied at finding himself suddenly reunited with Duck, Shippou turned to Sango and burst out, "We have to find Kagome! Inuyasha's been captured, and –"

"Slow down," Miroku said gently. "What's happened?"

Sango glanced back at the monk. "She's not with Inuyasha? When we got separated, I thought…"

"Inuyasha's with Kikyou," Shippou explained, making an obvious effort to go slower. "They're trapped! And there are spiderwebs tainting everything. In the sky, everywhere! At least, that's what Kikyou said… And Kagome's the only one that can save them!"

Fakir could make sense of none of this, but Sango looked as if she might have some idea what was going on. "Spiderwebs? Houshi-sama, have you noticed anything like that?" Miroku shook his head, and Sango's expression darkened with worry. She went on, "It could be some scheme of Naraku's. You don't think we've gotten tangled up in anything like that, do you?"

"Quack!"

Fakir glanced at Duck, surprised, and saw that she was violently shaking her head.

"Duck doesn't think we have," he said.

Shippou peered over Sango's shoulder. "You can understand her? She's not a youkai, but I knew she wasn't just a regular duck!"

"No," Fakir agreed, "She is no ordinary bird. And if she says we're in the clear, I believe her."

Duck's eyes shone with pride as she looked up at him.

"But if what Shippou says is true," Sango said, brow furrowing, "how are we supposed to avoid something we can't see?"

Duck quacked quietly. Fakir did not want to understand, but he did. He wanted their time in this place to be done; he wanted to go home, unfinished story or no. But, "Duck, you can see the webs... can't you?"

"Quack."

No translation was needed to tell them what that meant: yes.


	33. Parallel Tales

Navigating through the maze of invisible spiderwebs was a tricky thing. It seemed that somehow, by sheer luck or some extraordinary sense of Kirara's, they had thus far missed the strands altogether. But now with Duck's help, the searchers were able to consciously avoid the danger. Whenever they drew too close, she would quack a warning - and then Kirara would give a rumble and change course.

Fakir found the entire matter a great deal less unnerving now that he had been reunited with Duck. He still would have preferred to be done with the whole mess, but at least now they were together again. Now he at least knew she was safe.

But there were still questions that lingered.

"Why is it so important that we find this Kagome person?" he asked finally. "Why can't we go save your friends?"

"If Kikyou has fallen prey to Naraku, then Kagome is the only one who can find and purify the shards of the Shikon Jewel," Miroku explained, his voice a mixture of surprise and fear. "She may be the only one left who can remove the taint from our friends... if Naraku hasn't got to her already."

Fakir glanced at Duck, who was sitting on his lap. She peered up at him with wide blue eyes, and he remembered another special girl who once upon a time had collected the tainted and scattered shards, not of a gem, but of a Prince's heart.

"Quack," Duck murmured.

Fakir stroked her feathered head gently with a finger and knew there really was no going back. This story hit too close to his heart for him to ignore it. If he and Duck could somehow find a way to set this tale aright, or at least help their newfound friends, then that was exactly what they would do.


	34. Sharing Stories

"I seem to be missing something," Miroku mused, noting the sudden somber mood between Fakir and Duck.

"Yeah," Shippou added, climbing onto Fakir's shoulder so he could look down at where Duck was sitting in his lap. "What's the story with you and Duck here?"

"It's kind of a long story," Fakir admitted, hoping they would let it drop.

"We have plenty of time," Miroku assured him.

Fakir wasn't so sure, but when Duck gave him a reassuring quack he decided he ought to at least tell them something. So he told them the story called _The Prince and the Raven_. It was many years ago now, but he remembered every word as if it had happened yesterday. After all, it was Drosselmeyer's tale that had brought Fakir and Duck together in the first place.

And, Fakir was certain, it was the echoes of Drosselmeyer's power that had brought him and Duck to this place.

When he had finished, Shippou asked, "So Duck can turn into a girl?"

" _Could_ turn into a girl," Fakir replied sadly. "But it was the shard of the Prince's heart that gave her that ability. Now that it has been returned to its rightful owner, Duck is a duck."

"That doesn't seem very fair," Shippou grumbled.

Fakir almost smiled. "I would rather have her with me as a bird than have her turn into a speck of light and disappear."

"Is there no hope of restoring her to her human form?" It was Miroku that asked. Sango had fallen silent over the course of the tale and now seemed to be deep in thought.

"None that we have found," Fakir admitted.

When Sango finally spoke, her voice was cold. "Is that why you came here? To use the Shikon Jewel's power to restore your friend?"


	35. Tensions Rising

The sudden change in Sango's demeanor left Fakir reeling. The thought of using the Shikon Jewel to turn Duck into a girl once more had not crossed his mind even once. Indeed, he hadn't even realized the jewel held such power.

From the moment he followed her through the Bone Eater's Well and into the past, Fakir's only thought had been to find Duck. It was only after being reunited with her that he had found himself pulled into the quest for the Shikon Jewel as well.

At this point he could only guess why the Well had allowed Duck to cross over in the first place. He'd had to use the magic he'd inherited from Drosselmeyer to persuade it to let him through, but it must have had some purpose in mind for Duck, the same way it had with Kagome Higurashi. The only question was what that purpose might be.

"I," he stammered, unsure of how to defend himself without understanding the reason for Sango's sudden turn.

In the face of Fakir's obvious unease, Miroku supplied the missing information in a low tone: "It is only thanks to one of the last remaining Shikon shards that Sango's brother Kohaku still lives. Without its power, he will die and she will lose the very last of her family."

And suddenly it all made sense. Even so, Fakir grimaced slightly; this information added one more kink to the already twisted road ahead of them. Restore the jewel or destroy it, either way Sango's brother would die.

"I assure you, Sango," he said. "I came here only to find Duck. I have no desire for the Shikon Jewel."

But he had to admit, if only to himself, that for a moment his heart had beat faster at the idea of being able to return Duck to her human form once again.


	36. A Different Perspective

From her place on Fakir's lap, Duck watched Sango and felt her heart soften in sympathy. She wasn't sure what it was like to have family, but she knew how she would feel if Fakir's life was at risk. And from the stiff set of Sango's shoulders, Duck could tell that Sango was feeling much the same way.

_She'll do anything to save her brother_ , she realized. And: _I wish we knew more about this Shikon Jewel thing… maybe we could help. Maybe that's why we're here, right now._

Not for the first time, Duck truly regretted her inability to communicate with the people around her. She wished she could say something encouraging to give Sango hope. She wished she could reassure Fakir and Miroku that everything would be fine. More than anything, she wished those reassurances could be true.

She felt more than a little bit lost, and she didn't want to lie to anyone, but she'd helped Mytho save Rue when all hope had been lost. She had to wonder if maybe she could do the same thing here.

_If only I weren't just a duck! If I could just turn into Princess Tutu one more time…_

But there was none of the once-familiar magic sparkling up at the thought. She could no more become Princess Tutu than she could speak to her human companions. And she didn't even know for sure that Princess Tutu could help… she just _knew_ , a fact which she knew would frustrate Fakir to no end.

Struck suddenly by a new line of thought, Duck turned to look up at Fakir and wondered. _It was Fakir's power that let me help Mytho even after I'd been turned back into a duck… Maybe_ Fakir _can help Sango and her friends._


	37. The Wolf and the Girl

Duck never got a chance to try and communicate her idea to her companions. Almost as soon as it had occurred to her, Sango stiffened. An instant later she twisted around in her seat so sharply that Duck was sure she was going to fall. "Houshi-sama," she began, "Do you see that?"

Miroku followed her line of sight. Duck did, too, but all she saw was a dust cloud in the distance. To her, it meant nothing. Miroku murmured, "Kouga." He smiled faintly. "If anyone can find Kagome, it's him."

As Kirara hurtled downward, Duck was sure she was going to tumble right off the big cat's back, but Fakir held her securely. At first Duck wasn't sure what the dust cloud had to do with a person named Kouga, but as they caught up, she realized three things at once. First, the cloud of dust was left in Kouga's wake as he raced across the landscape. Second, Kouga was no more human than Kirara or Shippou. Or Duck.

And third, they wouldn't have to search very hard for the girl named Kagome Higurashi. Kouga was carrying a young girl in his arms as he ran, and to judge by the positively modern-looking green-and-white uniform she wore, it had to be Kagome.

"Kouga!" Sango shouted as they leveled off and raced after him. "Kagome!"

He skidded to a halt, dust whipping through the air. "What do you want?"

The girl's eyes lit up when she caught sight of her friends. Even before she spoke, Duck could tell she was just the kind of girl that Duck-the-girl would have wanted to be friends with. "Sango! Miroku!" Shippou launched himself into her arms, ignoring a displeased look from Kouga. Kagome squeezed him tight. "And Shippou! Thank goodness you're all okay! But... where's InuYasha?"


	38. Catching Up

"InuYasha and Kikyou are caught in one of Naraku's traps," Miroku explained. "That's why we were in such a hurry to find you."

Kagome stared at her friends - and the two newcomers - with wide eyes. Duck was surprised to see that the color of those eyes was changeable, shifting slowly between grey and blue. There was strong emotion in those eyes, too, that made Duck wonder.

"InuYasha sent us to find you," Shippou added urgently. "Kikyou said you were the only one that could break the spell." The emotion in Kagome's eyes only grew stronger. With a start, Duck recognized it: envy. And a little bit of heartbreak.

_She's in love with InuYasha,_ Duck realized. _Then I wonder why she looks so sad..._

Gradually, Kagome seemed to realize that she did not know everyone in the group. "And who is this?" she asked sweetly.

"Fakir," Fakir said falteringly. "And Duck."

"They're friends," Miroku assured her.

Duck wasn't sure what she or Fakir had done to earn the title of "friend," but it warmed her heart to hear it. "Quack!" she added.

"Bah," Kouga grumbled, as if he had just noticed Kagome's friends. He was wolflike and fierce, his mouth full of fangs when he spoke. He was not the sort of character Duck would have liked to encounter alone. "Why do you keep adding more humans to your group, Kagome?" he asked. "You'd be better off with me and my pack than with these losers."

Duck blinked in surprise: _and Kouga's in love with Kagome._

"We have to save InuYasha," Kagome said, carefully ignoring Kouga's frustration. It was plain just from looking at him that he wanted no part in saving his rival, but he would help if Kagome asked him to.

_Maybe he isn't so scary after all,_ Duck thought, and hoped she was right.


	39. Shades of the Past

It was beginning to seem to Duck that all she had done since she fell through the Bone-Eater's Well was criss-cross Japan looking for someone or other. At first all she'd wanted was to find her way back to Fakir. Now that she'd found him, she wasn't entirely sure what she wanted.

 _I want to help._ She was sure of that, but she wasn't sure how to help.

She didn't have whatever power Kagome had that could free InuYasha and Kikyou from the spider-web trap. She couldn't even speak to ask questions. All she could do was sit on Fakir's lap and do nothing as they returned – with Kagome and Kouga in tow – to where they'd left their other friends. As far as she could tell, she and Fakir were simply along for the ride.

 _Then why was I able to go through the well like Kagome?_ she wondered, forlorn. _Why did I end up here?_ She pouted, knowing the answer: _because I'm a clumsy duck and I fell into a magic well and it brought me here._ But that didn't explain why she could see the spider-webs when no one else could. No one but Kikyou and, she suspected without knowing why, Kagome Higurashi.

It seemed that there ought to be a reason for all of this, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what it might be. Things always happened for a reason in stories.

If she could just figure out the _story_ …

 _...before it's too late_ , she thought, in shades of Drosselmeyer's voice.

As they raced back across the countryside, she wished that someone would say something, just so she would have something to do other than think, but her companions were all ominously silent. Fakir's hand was a reassuring warm pressure against her back, but even he wasn't saying anything. Duck was left with silence, her jumbled and confused thoughts, and a deep sense of foreboding.


	40. Falling into Place

Duck's thoughts were still half racing and half stumbling as she waited with Fakir and the others. They remained a respectful distance away, even Kouga, as Kagome approached the hut where InuYasha and Kikyou were trapped.

It felt as if Duck's heart was in her throat as she watched. _This is a bad idea_ , she thought, and, _I wish I knew what to do!_ But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure out how the pieces of this story were meant to fit together, much less how she might fit in. One thing only was certain: this story had no room for the likes of Princess Tutu.

She watched sadly as Kagome halted just outside the opening to the hut, conversing quietly with the two trapped within. Her place on Fakir's shoulder gave her a good view, but she could not make out what was being said.

She didn't need to hear to understand. As she watched, sympathy filled up her heart. She had been in a situation like this before, it seemed. _Maybe,_ she thought, _Kagome just needs someone who will understand._

Her hopes were dashed when Kagome returned to the group a few minutes later. "There's something I have to do," she said, her eyes dull with unshed tears and unvoiced frustrations. "Kouga, will you take me?"

"Anywhere you want," Kouga said. Duck couldn't help the twinge of fear she felt at seeing his fangs bared so impatiently. She had felt no such fear from InuYasha...

"Quack!" she burst out, as she had often done before, once upon a time. Knowing she had no right to protest, being only an outsider and a duck to boot, she clapped her wings over her duck-bill and tried her very best to keep quiet.

"Kagome," Sango interjected, surprisingly gentle. "What's going on?"

But Kagome just shook her head and said nothing.


	41. Parting Ways

Fakir was silent as Kouga scooped Kagome up and headed off toward the east. It wasn't long before they were out of sight, save for the dust cloud kicked up in Kouga's wake. Watching them go, he felt a sudden strong desire to follow them. 

Words whispered all around him: story-words that murmured of wrong endings and terrible events to come.

But since he had no hope of keeping up with Kouga's inhuman speed, he turned instead to his remaining companions. Miroku and Sango seemed as confused by the exchange that had just occurred as Fakir did. Sango murmured something quietly to Miroku, but his expression gave nothing away.

He strode toward the hut, careful to go no further than Kagome had, and peered inside. "InuYasha," he began, "was it wise to send Kagome away?"

"It wasn't my idea," came the response in clipped tones.

"It is the only way to free us." This speaker was a woman, and she sounded exceedingly calm in comparison.

"Or is that only what Naraku wants us to believe?" Miroku asked quietly.

Sango could stand it no longer: "Where is Kohaku?"

"He is hidden," this from the woman as well. "And safe, though if I move from this place I fear the barrier that protects him will fail."

Sango's fear and anger were palpable things. It was becoming increasingly clear to Fakir that he and Duck had fallen into the middle of this story at a very important moment. Events were happening now, or would be happening soon, that would determine the ending of the story for good or ill, forever.

The whispering of the words was louder now, more insistent. Duck seemed aware of it, too. She looked up at him with those large, expressive eyes, eyes that echoed his own confusion. "Quack."


	42. Tipping Point

Duck and Fakir could only watch as their remaining companions began to squabble amongst themselves.

"I'm going to find Kohaku," Sango announced.

"You're just going to let Kagome go off with Kouga like that?" Shippou asked, clearly hurt by the very idea.

"What about Kouga's jewel shards?" Miroku mused. "Now would be an ideal time for Naraku to try to obtain them."

Sango's face betrayed just how torn she felt. Fakir did not envy her the choice she would have to make. He scooped Duck up and gave her a reassuring squeeze, if only to make himself feel a little better. At least he knew where she was, and that she was safe. More or less.

To Fakir's immense surprise, Miroku turned to him. "What do you think?" the monk asked.

Fakir fumbled for an answer. How could they ask his opinion when he hadn't the slightest idea what was really going on? And yet… "That woman says that your brother is safe for now," he found himself saying. "But we don't know where Kagome is going – or why."

"So you think we should go after Kagome," Sango said. Her voice was dull, her eyes downcast.

He did, though he couldn't put a finger on exactly why. He wanted to see what was going on. He wanted to know why Kikyou had sent Kagome away, what she hoped to gain. But most importantly, he had a feeling that Kagome was the reason he had been drawn first to the Higurashi Shrine and then through the well.

All at once, the whispering words ceased to flow around him and Fakir knew he had found his answer. "Something very important is going to happen," he murmured, appalled by what he was so nearly revealing. "And it's going to happen where Kagome is."


	43. Dissent

Sango was not pleased with the decision to follow Kagome. Fakir could tell that much even though she made no further protest. She didn't need to. There was resentment in her voice when she ordered Kirara to carry them in pursuit of Kouga and Kagome.

Squeezed onto the great cat's back with all the others, Fakir felt awkward. Out of place. He glanced down at Duck, wondering what the two of them were doing here, trying to fix a story they didn't understand, a story that might not even exist... but he saw no doubt in Duck's eyes.

She knew something he did not, or at least she was more certain they were doing the right thing.

But Fakir wondered.

Duck had fallen through the well and arrived here all on her own. He'd written himself here. He was increasingly certain that Duck was _meant_ to be here. And he was equally certain that he was _not_.

But why?

And what repercussions would his presence here have?

He realized grudgingly that he could likely affect anything he wanted. He'd written himself into this story, if story it was, now it was his to finish as he chose. _I can fix this story, if I can just figure out how it's supposed to end._

That was easier said than done. He knew a thing or two about stories; telling tales seemed to be in his blood, thanks to his connection to Drosselmeyer. But the tale unfolding around him was complex, and he'd fallen right into the middle of it. With time, he could piece it together. But time was a luxury he did not have.

Duck had always been far more comfortable winging it than he had. Maybe, he thought wryly, that had something to do with her being a bird.


	44. Possibilities

Wind rushed past as Kirara flew, racing as fast as Fakir's mind. His companions were silent, which was just as well. He needed to concentrate. And he needed a place where he could _write_ , where he could pause and think, where he could put the pieces of this puzzle in order and see where they led.

He wondered what Duck thought of all this, and suspected that her thoughts mirrored his own.

Some power was afoot here. Something had pushed the story awry. And it would continue down this wrong path until it reached a conclusion - or a standstill.

It reminded him unpleasantly of Gold-Crown Town. Of Princes and Ravens and a young girl in a white tutu.

_I need to stop thinking of Princess Tutu_ , he thought. Duck looked up at him, as if she knew what he was thinking. _There is no place for Princess Tutu in this story._

A traitorous voice whispered: how can you be so sure?

The voice was Drosselmeyer's.

_Does Princess Tutu have no place in this story, or are you merely afraid of putting your little Duck in harm's way?_

He wanted to argue. Princess Tutu could not save Sango's brother, wherever he was. Princess Tutu could not find the scattered pieces of the Shikon Jewel. She could not hope to fight the enemy that also sought the jewel.

Perhaps, just perhaps, she could help heal the hurts that had left Sango and Miroku so defensive and scarred. Certainly she could help mend the divide between Inuyasha and Kagome.

Fakir shook his head. No. It couldn't work. Even if she could help, he had no idea how to bring her to life.

He'd tried. For years he'd tried, and Duck remained stubbornly a duck.

They would have to do this without Princess Tutu.


	45. Playing Catch-Up

Up ahead, a telltale dust cloud told Fakir they were gaining on Kouga and Kagome. Kirara's powers of flight were truly remarkable, if she could manage such speed while carrying so many people.

He was impressed, but also worried. They were catching up quickly and he still had no clue what he should say or do next. His fingers itched for pen and paper, but... then what? Would he suddenly find himself able to summon Princess Tutu once again, at last, and then leave the hard work of figuring things out to her?

He didn't want to put Duck in any more danger. He barely understood what was going on around them. How could he throw Duck to the wolves like that?

The dust cloud began to resolve itself as they drew closer. It felt like he was running out of time.

He should know what to do. He _should know_. He was sure of it. If he emptied his mind and started to write, he could...

But he'd never had Duck's unthinking determination or her unyielding confidence.

He didn't know enough. He might never know enough to fix this. It wasn't his story, not the way _The Prince and The Raven_ had been. It wasn't personal. It wasn't...

But it had brought Duck here. And it had allowed him to follow, when he pushed the matter.

His fingers itched for pen and paper, and he shied frantically away from the memory of such powerful, mindless writing. He'd invoked that power in its fullest only once. Maybe, he realized, the problem here was he didn't want to do that again.

It had nearly cost him Duck the first time. What might it cost him now?

If he used his power to fix this story, could they ever go home again?


	46. Onward to Mount Azusa

It wasn't long before Kirara drew up alongside Kouga.

"Kagome, what's going on?" Sango demanded. "Tell us what you need to do. We'll help you!"

Duck saw the tears shining in Kagome's eyes as she shook her head. Anger and frustration were written plainly on her face; Duck felt a pang of sympathy.

"You can't help me," she admitted, the wind almost tearing her words away before Duck could hear them. "I have to be the one to do it, or it won't work and I won't be able to save Inuyasha and Kikyou."

Sango glanced back toward Miroku. "If you tell us what Kikyou asked you to do, we might be able to think of a way to help," the monk suggested.

Kagome shook her head again. "I didn't have the power to break the spell," she explained. "I… There's a powerful bowstring in a mausoleum to the north of here at Mount Azusa. Kikyou said with its power I should be able to fire an arrow to break the spell."

There must be a reason for her to look so gloomy, but Duck didn't have a clue what it might be.

"So why do you have to get this bowstring on your own?" Miroku probed.

"That's not what I meant," Kagome clarified. "I couldn't save them because… when we were separated… Naraku attacked me and was able to corrupt my power. If Kouga hadn't saved me..." She trailed off ominously, then seemed almost to crumple into hopelessness. "There's no way I can purify the spell that's binding Inuyasha and Kikyou right now. And you can't help me because I have to purify Naraku's taint first."

Her eyes closed sadly, and Duck wondered what it was that Kagome wasn't telling them. Surely the situation, however dire it seemed, wasn't worth such sorrow.


	47. Climbing the Mountain

Duck had seen mountains before. She was sure she must have seen mountains before, at least. But that had always been with the mountains in photographs, or far off in the distance where they didn't really seem all that big.

Mount Azusa, looming before them, was undeniably enormous. It had seemed large enough when it first appeared in the distance, and had only grown bigger as they raced ever closer to it. Now that they stood at its very foot, it seemed impossibly large to Duck, who could only stare upward to where the pathway disappeared into obscuring mist.

"The mausoleum should be at the top," Kagome said. Standing beside Kouga now, she too could not seem to look away from the mist-shrouded mountain.

"Kirara and I can have you there in just a few minutes," Sango offered. "Then we can --"

Kagome shook her head. "I have to do this myself," she said. Gentling her voice, she went on, "I'm glad you want to help, Sango, I really am. But I have to do this. Not anybody else."

Duck tore her gaze away from the mountain as Kagome Higurashi stepped forward and onto the path etched into the mountain's face. The girl turned back for a moment to say, "Please wait for me here. I'll try not to take too long!"

And then she turned back to her quest.

After only a few more steps, Duck realized that something was terribly wrong. At first she thought she must be seeing things, that Kagome Higurashi couldn't be fading away right before her eyes, but she knew she had to stop it -- somehow.

Amidst a flurry of feathers and a cacophony of frantic quacking, Duck launched herself from the safety of Fakir's arms and could only hope that she wouldn't disappear with Kagome.


	48. Lost in the Mist

"Duck!" Fakir's cry echoed strangely, but when Duck turned back to look for him there was no sign of Fakir or any of the others. It was as if they had vanished the instant she set foot on Mount Azusa. Duck felt a flash of panic.

From behind her, Kagome Higurashi murmured, "You."

Duck turned to face her, and promptly if involuntarily quacked. She wished for the hundredth time for a human voice, so she could ask Kagome even one of the many questions that raced through her head. But she was still only a duck, and all she could do was sheepishly say, "Quack."

Kagome knelt down in front of her and offered a small smile and a hand for her to perch on. "You came with me, huh?"

Quacking happily, Duck climbed on.

"I'm not sure why, but somehow that makes me feel a little better," Kagome admitted. She rose and started back up the path, cradling Duck carefully against her as they headed inexorably upward, toward the mist and the mausoleum.

"I don't even really know anything about you," she continued. "You and your friend could have come from anywhere for any reason. And now you're helping me." She gave a hopeless laugh. "It doesn't make any sense. You're a bird. What in the world could you hope to gain by helping me?" 

Duck wondered if she was talking just to fill the eerie quiet, or if she knew Duck could understand what she was saying. After all, there hadn't been time yet to explain to Kagome just who Fakir and Duck were, much less where -- and when -- they had come from. From Fakir's clothes, she might have guessed, but Duck looked like any other bird.

Then, quietly, Kagome asked, "But you're not an ordinary duck, are you?"

"Quack!"


	49. Obscured Path

The face of Mount Azusa seemed permanently obscured by mist, and the path to the mausoleum led right into the middle of it. Kagome hesitated for a moment at the spot where the mist swirled only around her ankles, then pressed onward.

The mist brought with it a bone-deep chill and a sense of ominous presence that set all of Duck's feathers to fluffing. Still perched on Kagome's hand, she felt the girl shiver and felt a bit sorry for her, with no feathers and only a short skirt to keep her warm. Then again, maybe she wasn't shivering from the cold.

"This place gives me the creeps," Kagome admitted a few steps later. They had only just made their way into the mist, but Duck had to agree. Something about all this just seemed wrong. If only she could put a finger -- or a feather -- on what it might be.

Either oblivious to what Duck was feeling or determined to persevere in spite of everything, Kagome continued along the path. Her steps didn't flag at all, even as the mist closed in and whirled ever more ominously around them, and even though it had begun to feel as if they had been climbing the path for ages. Despite having known her for such a relatively short time, Duck had to admire the girl's courage.

The thought of the mausoleum that awaited them might be frightening, but Duck was glad she had chosen to accompany Kagome on this adventure. The poor girl had seemed so forlorn earlier... even if there was nothing else a mere bird could offer, at least Kagome wouldn't have to do this entirely on her own.

It was a reassuring thought, up until Duck realized they were approaching something large and roughly human-shaped -- something that was moving toward them.


End file.
